Transformation
by harrypotteranonymous
Summary: my storys better than the summery, i swear! this will be independant!harry, Strong!harry only light bashing of some decisions, but hardly with people. no pairings as of yet, but there will be one. i guess you could call it AU. starts in summer before ootp. enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

It was the third day of a dull and painful summer at privet drive when he found it. Dull because he was at privet drive. Painful because of cedric and the graveyard. 'I have to snap out of it 'Harry thought 'this is doing no good'. Then, Harry flipped open to a page in the book he was skimming. It was his second year potions textbook, and he flipped open to a page called, "the nutrient potion." it apparently was for malnourished people, it made it as if you had three square meals a day, every day. It was a simple potion and didn't require fire. He had all the ingredients with him and it only took two days to make. He dug out his cauldron and potion kit, quickly memorizing the instructions and filling it 3/4ths of the way with water and got started.

~ two days later~

It was ready, according to the instructions he had to drink it periodically throughout the day and he would sleep for 8 hours while the biggest change would happen. It would take about two weeks until the effects were fully in place and he would feel uncomfortable almost constantly because of the accelerated growth. He downed the first amount, surprised at the taste. It looked like brown and green sludge but tasted almost…fruity. Most potions were disgusting. Harry went downstairs and made breakfast for his relatives, taking a decent amount for himself. Harry's mass murdering godfather (hehe) still terrified them, so he got a good amount of food even with Dudley's much-needed diet. That didn't stop them from giving him chores though. Aunt Petunia gave him a list and he got to work. At least it was all inside today, a heat wave was starting to hit surrey and there was no doubt that he would get many outside chores this summer. He took the potion throughout the day until it was gone. As soon as he finished the last swallow, his head hit the pillow for 8 ours of uninterrupted sleep.

When Harry woke up, he felt better than ever. Looking in the mirror, he judged that he probably grew about three inches and gained almost a stone. He now looked healthy and was just under the average height for guys his age. Harry had always hated being so short compared to the rest of his classmates. He had been the same height as most of the girls, but shorter than a few. Ron definitely towered over him. Hermione was slightly taller than him too. This was all after his growth spurt so he always despaired in never growing taller. His eyesight seemed to be a bit better as well, a definite plus. At this rate he would be taller than Dudley; he would defiantly need new clothes now. Harry had a sudden thought, what if the extra weight kept adding up and he ended up like Dudley. As these thoughts he shivered. He doubted he would ever end up Dudley's size but he never wanted to. He glanced at his battered, second-hand alarm clock. It was 6:10, maybe he would start running. As a second thought he decided that it can't hurt to be fit, so he got dressed and sneaked downstairs. It would be about two hours before the Dursleys woke up, plenty of time. 'And' he thought to himself 'running always saved me against Dudley and his little gang'. Harry opened the front door and set off at an even pace. Harry soon found out that while quidditch and roaming the many staircases of the castle got you reasonably fit, he was nowhere near in shape. After about 2 miles, Harry just managed to drag himself inside and into the shower. After a brief but heavenly soak, he came back into his room with naught but a towel on and two particular thoughts in his mind. On his run, he had seen someone following. Well, seen and heard. When she realized his intention, she cursed before running after him with the grace of and elephant on ice. He had caught a flash of what looked like pink hair when he turned the corner as well. Harry doubted that a death eater would have pink hair, so he was either being followed by the ministry or Dumbledore. It wasn't a muggle or anything because she was under what was clearly an invisibility cloak. Also, as the ministry seemed content to just badmouth him in the paper with random cracks at his sanity, he figured it was Dumbledore. The second thought was rather vain, just commenting on how he liked the bit of muscle definition he was seeing. Who knew a few inches and pounds could do so much for somebody's self-esteem.

The next two weeks passed similarly, with Harry running every morning, slowly working his way up to about 5 miles (he was on 31/2 now). He gained another 3 inches and even more muscle. He had started to sneak some of Dudley weights and do some pushups, sit ups, crunches, lunges, and even pull-ups. He did it in the basement when he came back from his run, it was Dudley's workout room for boxing that he hardly ever used, and though Harry was not allowed down there he made sure to exit a good half-hour before his relatives woke up. He now had a sculpted body with defined muscles and a near-washboard stomach. He was still working on the latter. He was about 2 inches taller than Dudley, and had to sag his pants so they could reach his ankles. It was defiantly time to go shopping. The only problem was that to go shopping, he needed money. And to get money, he needed to go to diagon alley. And to do _that_, he needed to slip past his guard. He had a plan though; one of his guards was an almost constantly drunk man with a foul odor. He guarded Mondays and Thursdays from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and Fridays from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. The good thing was that he was always either asleep, or not their. So, on Monday, 9:05 a.m. Harry was out of his window, covered in his cloak and on his was to a secluded spot to call the knight bus. 'Great guard Dumbledore' Harry thought, spying the imprint of a passed out man in the backyard 'I feel so safe'. Soon enough, he was thanking Stan (who _still _called him Neville) for the ride and standing at the entrance to the leaky cauldron. Admiring how the muggles didn't see them, a triple-decker bright purple bus, Harry entered the leaky cauldron. He said hello to Tom and quickly entered the sequence on the bricks, grinning as the alley came into sight. It wasn't as busy as usual, which really didn't matter. He only needed a few things from here; most of his shopping would be done in the muggle world. Harry kept his head down and hurried into gringotts. At the front steps of the enormous marble building, he bowed at the goblins and stepped inside, chuckling sadly at their slight shock to being treated as equals. He walked up to the front desk and said quietly "I would like to visit my vault please".

The goblin stared down at him, "key?" Harry frowned at that, still had his vault key, from second year! No matter how little he spent or how much he trusted the red-haired mother that was unacceptable. "Is their anyway to get mine back to me, I'm afraid I don't have it." The goblin nodded and had another goblin lead him to a room with a knife and a bowl filled with a shimmery liquid. "This will tell you how many vaults you have and make sure you are indeed Mr. Potter". Harry grasped the knife and slit his palm, not flinching. The blood swirled in the bowl, before the goblin dipped a piece of parchment in the mix, and Harry was handed the slowly drying sheet. He watched as words wrote themselves from the liquid. The paper read

Harry James Potter

Vaults ~ 687, 51, 6

Heir to ~ Black, Potter, Peverall

Vault access ~ Harry James Potter, Molly Jane Weasley, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

Money Drawn in past 10 years ~ 350g 35s 10k

Vault holdings ~ 687: 19,650g 3,965s 1,990k

51: 3,005,219g/various jewels and personal items.

6: 42,583,496g/various jewels and personal items.

( a/n Harry will _never_ use all of this and this will not be one of those _my ancestors give me kickass powers and way more money than 20 generations could use _stories. The way I see it, interest from a load of money, building for almost 15 years adds up, and for the Peverall it could be thousands of won't use all of his money, but the world isn't cheap. Neither is independence. K, I'm done)

Harry gaped; he was filthy rich. That much he got. But living in the muggle world meant that he knew value by muggle terms. "Hardtooth" Harry started "what are galleon/pound conversion rates?" the goblin scowled a bit before answering. "One galleon is equal to exactly £2.56" Harry gaped, he wasn't the richest person on earth, but he had over 100 million pounds. Then, Harry grinned. Wouldn't the world get a shock at the 'new' him.

Harry was led to vault 687 – his trust vault – and got out a hefty sum, transferring half to pounds. He then exited the bank, almost skipping. He had a few things to get here, starting with a new trunk. He headed to the store, gazing at all the trunks, bags, and general containers. With hagrid it had been get in and get out, and they had gotten new merchandise from third year. He looked around, eventually picking out a mahogany trunk with steel fastenings that had four times the space of a normal trunk, a featherweight charm, a shrinking charm, and he could key it to his magical signature. It even had a little hidden compartment on attached to the underside of the lid for valuables. He also threw in a moleskin pouch for things that would kill him if they disappeared or essentials and a wand holster. If the little time with the real Mad-eye Moody taught him one thing, it was to be prepared. He exited the shop and head to the bookstore. He picked out 5th year runes and arithmancy (he didn't want Ron to be upset, but it looked really interesting so he studied in secret.) and then browsed for interesting books. He got a book on calligraphy, animagus training, as well as a thick one about occlumency. He had never heard of it before, but the description said it was defense against legilimancy, which was mind-reading. He almost passed Hogwarts, a history before picking it up and mentally shrugging. Maybe he would now know what Hermione was going on about all the time. He picked up a 'learn Latin' book, thinking that most spells were in Latin, and then walked up to the counter. He picked up some more parchment, quills, and ink, paid for the books and put them in his trunk. Then he walked quickly back to the leaky cauldron, mentally making a list of the things he would get. So far he came up with

Clothes

Glasses

A haircut

A watch

Shoes

Workout stuff

Some entertainment stuff

Whatever caught his eye and wasn't stupid

Harry figured that he had never really pampered himself before, so now was a good a time as ever. He looked up, then started t walk faster, people were starting to recognize him. He opened the door and stepped back into the muggle world. Harry remembered that there was a shopping center nearby and quickly walked in that direction. It was a couple miles, really not that far. About halfway there, he came across a second-hand clothing store. Mentally shrugging for the second time that day, he stepped in and was glad he did. Harry was never one for style, but he liked what he saw. He quickly grabbed up some faded jeans in different shades of blue, a few different colored v-necks and a leather jacket. Harry tried them on and was pretty sure they fit okay, not really used to well fitting clothes. He saw some combat boots and found a pair in his size. He paid for them and went inside the bathroom where he changed into a royal blue v-neck, some black jeans, his new jacket, and combat boots. When he looked in the mirror, he was almost unrecognizable. New glasses and a haircut and only close friends and family would connect the short, scrawny, awkward kid with the strong young man in the mirror. He put his purchases in his trunk, re-shrunk it and made his way to the mall. Something he failed to notice (being Harry and all) was the many girls checking him out on the walk. Oh, he noticed them staring but he really didn't connect the dots. He was almost to the shopping center when he passed yet another store that he randomly decided to go in. his thoughts were, ' why the hell not, privet drive already thinks I'm a criminal'. He entered the tattoo/piercing parlor and quickly made up his mind on what to get. He would have three small tattoos and a piercing. One on the inside of his left wrist left wrist of a black stag with a red lily in its antlers, for mom and dad. Another being a black lion on the inside of his right wrist. The both would be edged in a Gryffindor gold color. The last would be black and gold as well, but the next one would be around his bicep. It would be a quote from his favorite muggle book 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass'. He had read it out of Dudley's abandoned bookshelf in his short exile of the summer before second year. He felt that he could relate with Alice, in the sense of following something strange into a world even stranger. The quote would be "curiouser and curiouser". The piercing however would be purely for his own amusement. Aunt petunia was starting up on the outside labor and Harry would get a small, golden hoop in his right nipple. He couldn't wait to see their reaction now that he was stronger than them. When he walked out of the parlor, he was the proud owner of three tattoos and a piercing. He walked the last block to the shopping center, and quickly bought 4 more pairs of jeans, 2 blazers, some boxers, a few more shirts, 3 pairs of slacks, some white button ups, some dressier shoes (the last three for Hogwarts) 2 pairs of trainers, some workout clothes, a watch, and ended up with a laptop, Ipod, some earphones, and a load of cd's after passing the apple store and being unable to resist. He also got his hair trimmed (not without exclamations on how _silky_ it was) and was informed that the only way t tame it was to grow it out so it would weigh itself down. At the small optometrist he was informed just how out of date his prescription was (shocker) and decided just to get contacts and save himself the hassle. Now it was a bit past noon and Harry decided to get some lunch and return to the dreaded Dursleys. He went to the bathroom again and put his purchases in his trunk before re-shrinking it, then went to the food court and quickly ate a delicious pizza. He exited the shopping center immediately heading to a deserted bit of road to summon the knight bus. On his way, he saw an appliance store. Normally, he would have kept walking, but the item in the front window was almost calling to him. He entered, bought the item, refused help to carry it and walked out, putting the mini-fridge in his trunk and summoning the bus. He got back with no problem, only stopping to put on the invisibility cloak that he had put in his moleskin pouch the moment he bought it.

Harry scaled the house with ease, climbing in the window before closing it and grinning. 'That was almost too easy', he thought. To start, Harry unpacked both his trunks, repacking almost all of his things into the new one and only stopping to put the rest if his money, his cloak, his parents photo album, and the map into his pouch. He put his wand into its holster; which promptly disappeared when it was put in and put a pocketknife in his pocket (duh) for good measure. He decided to wait until he got food for it before plugging in the mini-fridge. Harry glanced in the mirror and was shocked, he didn't even recognize himself! He was taller, stronger, and no longer dressed in rags. His eyes stood out for the world to see and he had a light dusting of stubble on his chin. He was completely different and was glad for it. He grinned and put £20 in his pocket to go get some food from the nearest convenience store. He didn't encounter his relatives on his way downstairs and was glad just to walk out the door instead of having to be sneaky. There was a chore list on the kitchen table, but Harry ignored it. He would get it later. It was 2:17 and the pink-haired woman was guard now. She didn't even seem to recognize it was him; usually she would scramble up to follow him. Harry spent half of his childhood straining his ear to know when to run from Dudley or Vernon, so he could always hear her no problem. He almost laughed out loud; she was just sitting under a tree muttering about how _boring_ it was here. He almost felt bad, and decided to try and talk to her on his morning run. The store was only a block away and he picked up a basket, getting some bottled water, a six pack of coca-cola, some apples, kiwi, and peaches as well as some thin mints (he wasn't a health-nut) and some things for sandwiches. He wouldn't go hungry this summer, the Dursleys may be feeding so far but that could change. He also picked up a razor, shaving cream, a toothbrush and toothpaste, and some shampoo and soap. Now the only thing the Dursleys provided him was some food and shelter, he would give back the clothes just to taunt them a bit. He walked out of the store, completely missing the giggling group of girls in the corner and was walking home when he spotted a help-wanted sign. Now, a few things ran through his head when he saw the sign. The first being that so far, his friends had told him squat about life outside privet drive and despite all the things he got, music, a couple books, a laptop ( bought on whim, he had nothing to actually use it for) and learning Latin would not keep him entertained all summer. He had already did his assignments and re-read (read) his previous textbooks so that was out. If he had a job, he would be away from the Dursleys for a whirl everyday, he could explain where the money for the clothes and stuff came from without revealing his fortune, and it would keep him busy. As far as he knew, he was here all summer. So what if he knew nothing about mechanics, he could learn. He went inside and the guy in charge said that he was the first applicant so far, if he could read these (he was handed a few manuals) and take a test or two, he would have the job. Harry came back to the house in high spirits. The Dursleys were still gone, and the chores were practically nothing, so it was about 6:30 when Harry retired to his room. He opened the fridge he hooked up and grabbed a coke. He then sat on the floor and cracked open the manuals for his job. Well, it was almost his job, it hopefully would be in a few days. When he read the last books, it was about 10:00 and Harry decided to get some rest. The Dursleys had come back about 3 hours ago and were already asleep. He couldn't wait for their reactions. It had been a long day and Harry dreamed of shopping and mechanics.

Chapter 2

Harry woke up, still relishing in the fact that he has no more nightmares like the first week of summer. He put on a pair of basketball shorts and a t-shirt with some trainers and set out for his jog. Today was still the pink-haired woman ( she had from 6:00 to 9:00 every morning and from 2:00 to 4 on Mondays) and Harry jogged a half-mile warm up before breaking out in a sprint. Halfway through he abruptly turned around and he caught a flash of pink. "say hi to Dumbledore for me" Harry half-whispered before sprinting home, but jogging the last half mile as a warm down. He quietly opened the front door and sneaked down to the basement. He did a vigorous hour workout and at 7:30, went upstairs to shower. He didn't know anything about shampoo types, but that and his soap smelled clean and kind of forest-ey, so he figured it was good. He also didn't know anything about shaving, so he would have to wait for school, , Sirius, or a random Weasley male. He would try it on his own if it got too bad, but it was hardly noticeable on his rapidly darkening skin. So much time outside will do that. He wrapped a towel around his waist and went to his room to get dressed. Well, not without indulging in the little vanity he did. He almost has that six-pack. He would have to start doing outside work without a shirt too; he was getting tan on his arms, face and neck but not his chest. Or his legs for that matter (but he was _not _going outside naked_ or _weeding the garden in his boxers.) maybe there was a spell for that. Oh well, its not really important. He quickly put the stuff the guy gave him on his tattoos and nipple ring before going downstairs for breakfast (they didn't have him make it now. Probably thinks he would poison it or something) wearing a pair of faded blue jeans and a white v-neck with some trainers. You could see the tattoos on his wrist and, if you knew it was there, the outline of the hoop. When he got to the kitchen, it was silent. Dudley's jaw was open (with food inside, I might add.) and uncle Vernon's face was slowly turning a familier reddish purple. Aunt petunias lips were squeezed together tightly (not really different from most days) as she handed him his list.

_Vacuum carpet_

_Wash dishes_

_Mow lawn_

_Paint shed_

_Weed garden_

_Make Dudley lunch_

_Set dinner table_

It was pretty easy, Harry had always done so much that most of the chores never actually _needed_ to be done. Most of these were weekly stuff. Harry grabbed some toast and a few pieces of bacon, quickly eating them.

"I might get a job today" Harry randomly announced "if I am hired, I will be out of your hair from 9:00 to 4:00 every day. And before you say something there is no way in _hell _you are seeing any of the money" at this, Vernon's face did turn purple and Harry quickly went outside to get to work before the shouting started. At 8:30, Vernon left with just a glare in his direction and Dudley went off to vandalize random kids. At about 10:00, the garden was weeded and Harry went to do the inside chores. Today he actually wanted to work in the heat, he was gonna take his shirt off and wanted to see aunt petunia's reaction to the gold hoop. She was home all day and would notice the ring; she lived for things like this. She did it constantly with the neighbors to fuel her gossip. The trick was to be able to notice what was _different. _Harry was convinced she did a few to many 'what's different' pictures as a child. Harry vacuumed, made three Dudley-sized sandwiches and put them in the fridge, did the dishes and set the dining room table for dinner (that was about 6 hours away) and by the time he was done with all 11:00. Harry went out to pain the shed and was going to mow the lawn when he pulled off his shirt, wiped his forehead with it, and then hung it on the mower. He made sure to do it just as he was in sight from a few girls he used to go to school with and their mothers. Sure enough, they were furiously gossiping when they caught sight of him. He could feel his aunts glare in his back but Harry just kept on mowing. Of course, they weren't gossiping about "that hooligan potter boy" but rather his newfound hotness and Harry, still oblivious despite the attitude adjustment, never realized. He quickly finished the mowing and ran inside to rinse off and have a bite to eat before heading to the mechanic shop to take those tests.

It was dark when he retuned, grinning. He got the job and was pretty exited about it. He had a feeling that, despite his friends and Sirius's silence, this would be his best summer yet.

Three weeks passed quickly, Harry finally got the six-pack from the combination of his jogs, job, and workout. He was now on his way to an 8-pack. What Harry liked is that his muscles were lither and he still looked slightly slender. He would never want to be a bodybuilder. He was making progress on Latin, and had a few shields and access to his mindscape. He was mainly working on sorting out his knowledge and memories. He could remember things better than ever and found that he had very invigorating sleep after he cleared his mind and sorted out his day. He also was 10 times better at writing with a quill, thanks to the calligraphy book. Hermione had asked about how his handwriting was so much better, so he sent it to her. His birthday came and went and school would start in a couple weeks. 'Hmm' Harry thought one day 'time flies when you having fun and for once it has been an awesome summer.' Uncle Vernon did pitch a fit about the added body art and accessories, but Harry didn't really respond. He had also loaded his cd's onto the Ipod and was looking foreword to finding out if he could make it work at Hogwarts. Harry found out that if he plugged the device into Greg's (his boss man) speaker, and just worked, he had a lot of fun. It was strangle relaxing and there was something satisfying about fixing the broken cars and motorcycles. Harry only got paid minimum wage, which was fine by him. He wasn't working for money anyway. Harry was at the shop seven hours a day, five days a week. He didn't work on Sundays or Wednesdays. On the days he didn't work, he usually visited the local library for a while of studied arithmancy and runes. He wanted to take the Owl's for those subjects separately next summer. he had decided to stop holding himself back. Between the Dursleys punishing him if he did better than Dudley, Ron's laziness and insecurity, and Hermione's hatred of being second best, he never tried his best. Something he realized was that he practically let them rule his life. Hermione his schoolwork and class time, and Ron his free time. They were his only close friends too; he was friendly with everyone except the slytherins, but not actual friends. He realized that this was why everyone made assumptions, they didn't know him. Sure they shouldn't judge him but he never really talked to them enough to ever prove their theories wrong. That had to change.

Before he knew it, it was time to go. Greg had him working extra today, and it was night when he was going home. Everything was fine until Harry went under the tunnel on the longest way home. That's when he felt a familiar chill. With a rising fear in his heart, Harry turned around. Sure enough, they were about 50 yards away, slowly gaining on him. Harry quickly sorted out his options. If he drove them away with magic, he would probably be expelled. The only other thing he could do was run back to the house and hope that he could get there in time and that those blood wards held up. Quick as a bullet, Harry shot in the direction of number four. The run seemed like an eternity, the cold never going away. When the house was in sight, adrenaline fueled a burst of speed and Harry ran to the front door. It was locked and faster than you could blink Harry had scaled the back wall and landed with a dull _thump_ on his bedroom floor. Harry looked out the window, sighing in relief at the fact that the dementors were floating away, not being able to get within 20 feet of the house. Harry went to his mini-fridge and pulled out some honeydukes chocolate leftover from his birthday. It was from Ron and Hermione, and he had almost thrown it away in a pique of anger. Shaky hands fed Hedwig a bit of chocolate for good measure and Harry sat still, listening to the gradual slowing of his heart. After about 20 minutes of rhythmically stroking Hedwig, his brain restarted. It was tobacco-guys turn for guard, and he obviously wasn't here. Harry quickly wrote a letter, copied it, and sent Hedwig out to deliver one to Dumbledore, and one to Sirius. It was very blunt and short to the point.

_Dear professor/Sirius_

_I was just attacked by dementors on my way home. I managed to get back to the house and not use magic. Don't worry, I'm safe. _ _Just_ _thought you should know._

_~ Harry_

Almost robotically, Harry went through his occlumency exercises and went to bed early. He cleared his mind as well, the way he always did as a surefire way to chase away the nightmare that would usually come. He imagined the complete freedom of flight.


	2. Chapter 2

**i realized I didn't put a copyright thing on the first page. Well, none of this is mine (as I am neither British nor rich. Tear.) and I do hope you enjoy it. I am trying to stay closer to the storyline now, but it will branch out when he gets to Hogwarts. Happy reading **

Chapter 3

Three days passed before anything happened. Harry made sure to never go anywhere without his wand and pocket knife, but otherwise the days went as usual. Well, except fro the fact that he was fired until next summer. Greg was taking a vacation and today was his last day at work. Apparently Greg had been planning this trip and saving money ever since his last kid got into college three years ago. Harry worked extra again today, but sprinted home this time. He would always be thankful to whatever made him think of morning jogs, without them he would either be expelled or soulless. In the past three days, Harry had worked a bit more on occlumency and finally sorted all of his memories, as well as building another shield. He had also finally got around to reading Hogwarts, a History. It was very dry, but chock full of facts. Absolutely perfect for Hermione. He had even found out about the room of requirement, and had a genius plan on how to find it. Ask the house elves. If they are anything like dobby, they would be ecstatic to help. They mentioned the house elves briefly in Hogwarts, a History, but didn't elaborate. At first Harry was a bit disgusted, thinking of how dobby was treated, but the rationalized about how he doubted Dumbledore treated them badly. Harry had tried to keep himself as busy as possible in the past three days. Like every night he worked late, Harry went in the house through his window. The Dursleys were out to some lawn competition and they probably would have locked the door, like always. Harry inspected his room, he had packed all of his things the day after the dementors came, even emptying out the last of the food in the fridge and putting it in his old trunk, which he put under the bed. He doubted that his relatives would even enter his room, probably worried that they would catch his 'freakishness' or something equally as stupid. Then, he heard a loud _Crash_ from downstairs. 'The Dursleys can't be home yet' Harry thought 'I didn't hear their car. And buglers would try to keep their voices down. Harry had a pretty good guess on who it was, but kept his wand out in his right hand while grabbing a slightly dented baseball bat that used to belong to Dudley in his left. He raised the bat a bit higher when he heard his lock click and the door slowly swing open. Harry was about to swing the bat towards the silhouette of the group in the doorway, when the bat flew out of his hand. "Careful boy, and put that wand down before you take someone's eye out." "Professor Moody", Harry said slowly, still not lowering his wand. "Were here to take you away from the Dursleys Harry", said the recognizable voice of yet another former defense professor. The voice of a woman that Harry had come to be familiar with throughout the summer pointed out that they were all just standing here in the dark and quickly cast _lumos_. The lady came into light, though she had purple hair this time. Harry studied Lupin, he was quite young but the curse made him age. He looked a bit more haggard than Harry last remembered, but it was a little over a year ago that he last saw him.

The nest few minutes passed in a bit of a blur, Tonks – the pink/purple haired woman – turned out to be a metamorphagus and pretty funny. Moody put his eyeball in a glass of water (which Harry found oddly fascinating) and wherever they were going, they were flying to. Harry was disillusioned, something which he vowed to learn to do when he got back to school.

Some fireworks were apparently a signal and soon Harry was reveling in the pure, undiluted freedom only flight could bring. It was chilly, but nothing Harry couldn't handle after wood's insane practices (in all types of weather). It was to soon when they touched down and they landed in a park across from a seedy-looking neighborhood. Moody took out a device that looked like a lighter and it, ironically enough, did the exact opposite. With the lamps out, someone shoved a slip of paper in his hand. The paper read

_The headquarters for the order of the phoenix is located in number 12, grimmauld place._

It was Dumbledore's handwriting and Harry recognized the effects of a fidelias charm. "What's the order of the-", was all he managed to get out before he was shushed by moody. Suddenly, Harry remembered Dumbledore's words at the end of last term. 'It was time to gather the old crowd, huh?' Harry thought, 'must be some kind of vigilante group from the 1st war'. Suddenly, Harry understood al the secrecy in the letters he had been receiving. 'Don't want to have the letters intercepted if they have anything important inside them'.

Harry felt a bit better about the entire thing now, though he was still mad at them. They were probably ordered by Dumbledore to withhold info, but they should have at least tried to send something with the guard. They knew he knew about it, what with the little message he had sent with Tonks. 'At least I have an excuse to be independent know, not that I should need one'. Harry did love his friend dearly, but Merlin did they suffocate him! 'And' Harry thought 'he was still kind of mad about the whole jealousy fiasco with Ron. He had said it was okay, but that kind of thing was hard to get over".

A house equally as seedy-looking as the neighborhood appeared and Harry was practically shoved through the door. The guard filed through and entered what looked like a kitchen door, momentarily leaving Harry in the creepy hallway. The form of Mrs. Weasley appeared and Harry had just enough time to notice that she looked a bit ill before he was engulfed in a rib-cracking hug worthy of hagrid.

"Good to see you Harry dear", she said, "And good to see that those rotten Dursleys are finally feeding you. Even so, you're much to skinny. Now, Ron and Hermione are upstairs, I have to be in the meeting right now. You kids are _not _allowed at the meeting so you can wait with them until it's over". Harry went to say something but was interrupted, " come, ill show you to the room you and Ron will be sharing and then I really have to join the meeting. Please be quite in the landing, wouldn't want to wake anything up".

She led him past many horrific decorations which included various snakes and even a row of severed house-elf heads. Harry was now aware that this had to be some kind of pureblood-fanatic house.

"its on the second door to your right dear", said the kind-hearted woman before she disappeared. Harry could see light from the cracked doorway and decided to wait a bit before confronting them. Harry was glad for the shrinking trunk at the moment, his things would probably had been dropped in this room and he would have had to talk to Ron and Hermione. Harry stealthily sneaked past the door and decided to explore the house a little bit. First, he walked to the end of the hall, opening every door but two along the way. The only ones he didn't open were the couple he heard voices behind. Harry then climbed another staircase to find a very dusty and dark looking library. As he perused the books, his suspicions proved correct. The books were _very_ dark in nature and Harry put them away almost immediately. The pictures were quite . . . graphic. He walked down the hallway, discovering many used and a few unused bedrooms. Harry went through a rather large room with nothing but wallpaper. It seemed to be some kind of family tree. At the top, Harry could make out

_The most noble and ancient house of black_

' I was right' Harry thought, 'this is and old pureblood house. And Sirius must be here, this _is _the house of_ black_'. He walked up some more stairs, until he was at the very top of the house. Harry poked around a bit; it seemed to be an attic. After shifting some items and dust, Harry found a small window that he could use to climb to the roof. He was still slender, even with the muscles and growth. Also, he would be here for two weeks. He needed to go outside _sometime_, even if it was just on the roof. Harry brushed the dust off himself and started to head downstairs, it would be dinnertime soon. Sure enough, when he got to the hall that Mrs. Weasley dropped him off, he heard her loud voice calling for him and the others.

When Harry got to the landing he was just behind the rest of the 'kids' and he watched with raised brows at the large throng of people filling the hallway. He spotted his guard and the unmistakable greasy hair of his most hated potions professor before they vanished in the crowd. As people stumbled out, Tonks tripped something with a loud _crash_! Her apologies were drowned out by the screeching of a life-sized and very ugly portrait that made Harry understand why they needed to be quiet on the landing. Mrs. Weasley and Lupin rushed to get the curtains over the hag, but it was futile. Soon Mr. Weasley started to stun the other awakening portraits. A black haired man came running out of the kitchen yelling "SHUT UP". He started to yank the curtains closed as the hag started screaming at him.

"_Abomination of my flesh! Filthy blood-traitor! Cavorting with half-breeds_"_

The man gave a yell and a huge tug, managing to close the curtains and shut up the hag. Sirius's eyes sought out his godson and they widened upon taking in his form. "well Harry" he said " I see you've met my mother".


End file.
